1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to PC card Electrical Connectors.
2. Description of the Related Art
Japanese UM patent application Kokai No. 4-133369 discloses a connector such as shown in FIG. 11. The connector includes a housing 51 having upper and lower storage cavities 53 for receiving a PC card 52 for each storage cavity as shown by broken line. A movable plate 54 is provided in each storage cavity 53 to receive the front portion of a PC card 52. Portions of the front edge of each movable plate 54 are bent to form abutment member 55 for abutment with the front end face of a PC card 52. A slot 56 extends in the longitudinal direction of the housing 51 to receive a shaft 57 of the housing 51 to which an eject lever 58 is pivoted. A slot 59 is formed in an end portion of the eject lever 58 for engagement with a projection 60 of the movable plate 54. The other end portion of the eject lever 58 projects from a side of the storage cavity 53 into an opening where it is coupled to a groove 61A of an eject bar 61. An ejector button 62 is coupled to the eject bar 61 near the opening of a storage cavity 53. The ejector button 62 is located near the rear end of a PC card 52 under the mated condition.
The ejector button 62 is located at a position shown by a solid line when a PC card is used. To remove the PC card, the ejector button 62 is depressed to a position shown by a broken line (see an arrow A) to rotate the eject lever 58, thereby moving the movable plate 54 in the forward direction. Thus, the PC card 52 is moved forwardly by the abutment members 55 of the movable plate 54 and can be removed from the storage cavity.
In the above connector, however, the ejector buttons are provided in the same number as that of PC cards. In addition, an identical ejector mechanism is provided for each PC card. In order to minimize the thickness of the connector, respective ejector mechanisms are made compact and closely stacked one upon another.
Consequently, it is frequent that wrong ejector buttons are depressed or it is difficult to push the desired ejector button.